Literacy — defined by Meltzer, Smith, and Clark as the ability to read, write, speak, listen, and think effectively — enables students to learn and to communicate clearly about what they know. Being literate gives people the ability to become informed, to inform others, and to make informed decisions (2001). Literacy is synonymous with learning. The partnerships between reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing — connecting with the ever-increasing knowledge base for each content area — provide the means for thinking among and between concepts and ideas. It is an active process.
Group items matching
in title, tags, annotations or url
1More
4More
Iowa Core Curriculum - Literacy - 0 views
-
-
-
By its nature, literacy is social. In being effective critical members of a literacy community, students collaborate with others. Whether it be engaging the ideas of an author or actively discussing and debating issues about their lives with their peers, this collaboration helps students gain an appreciation of themselves, others, and the world. There is a cumulative advantage to the reciprocity of sharing ideas. The more students engage in literacy, the deeper their conceptual understanding and motivation to learn becomes.
-
"By its nature, literacy is social. In being effective critical members of a literacy community, students collaborate with others. Whether it be engaging the ideas of an author or actively discussing and debating issues about their lives with their peers, this collaboration helps students gain an appreciation of themselves, others, and the world. There is a cumulative advantage to the reciprocity of sharing ideas. The more students engage in literacy, the deeper their conceptual understanding and motivation to learn becomes. "
1More
Educational Leadership:Teaching for the 21st Century - 1 views
-
I do not know how many of you are ASCD members but if not you will find this issue very exciting.
13More
The Changing Face of Education in Iowa: Call for Action: Get Rid of Grades - 5 views
-
We never get a chance to have students compare themselves to... themselves. Never to look at how much they have grown, or what they have left to do.
-
-
I find this very interesting and it's such a great point that I took some time to reflect on. As a teacher, I can see how this may benefit some students. Some of them would really enjoying seeing how far they've come or what they don't know yet. Not all of them look at their ITEDs scores and really understand them. I guess this would be a good reason for some form of pre/post testing. I really like the idea of having students take pride in seeing what they've gotten out of the classroom since so many of them degrade themselves and what they're learning anyway....thanks for the food for thought. -
I teach special education and I compare my students to themselves all the time. The skill areas we work on are charted and monitored twice a month at a minimum. I think it is an extremely valuable tool to have them see a visual of how they have grown (hopefully!) through the year. I agree that grading is subjective in many areas and can be inconsistent. Grades are most important in high school for getting into college and scholarships. -
The way textbooks and goals are set up normally, the tendency would be that students assess themselves against a pre-concieved standard. This will take a lot of re-thinking.
-
-
-
Many college drop outs have substantial debt - yes kid's expense in more than one way! -
The Iowa World Language Association is working on the materials for a language passport or portfolio which could be used to document what a student knows and can do. This language passport can be used by universities and future employers to attest to a student's competence with a particular language--something that grades don't always show. Perhaps other areas could develop similar tools to showcase a student's competence in that area.
-
-
Wow...well written. I have been of the same school of thought for some time, but it seems like such an 'out there' concept for so many people. - ...3 more comments...
-
I heard Doug Reeves speak on Monday and he spoke to the very same issue. He offered an activity in which he provided a set of five different grades and asked each individual in the room to "average" them in some fashion and then decide on a final grade. In a room of around 75 educators, individuals took the same grades and came up with As, Bs, Cs and Fs for the same set of five posted grades. Doug's point was that grading is so subjective, inconsistent and doesn't provide useful information to students, parents or others. -
I have never thought of grading being so subjective and inconsistent, but this is very interesting school of thought. -
Pretty far out; I like it. Thinking about the depth to which grades are in the system - credits, transcripts, GPA - both as a sign of progress and or understanding. Also thinking about assessment and grading - assessment of learning versus assessment for learning...... Great post!
-
I often think of how valuable this has been for my own children. They have had a Montesouri education and have been graded on challenging themselves and not compared to the other students. We have now switched back to traditional school and I find that my children are becoming a bit lazy. They now say things like who cares I always get A's. Is this what learning is about? I try to make sure to stress challenging yourself to my own students and I downplay grades. -
Great piece and the discussions we must be having as an education community. AND the discussion we should have with students and parents. Often we have this belief that the status quo is just fine, but often do nothing about challenging our system and how it supports learning as a journey. This concept and discussion should be kept alive and I believe we need to keep this discussion open.
16More
Education Update:Taking the Fear Out of the First Year:Professional Learning Communitie... - 13 views
-
-
Being a part of a collaborative culture helped to take my first year from being a complete, disorganized disaster to a year of successful learning for both the children and me. I felt the mentoring process was a form of collaborative culture. -
The time for groups of teachers to work together is key. This can be difficult at the secondary level, districts and administrators are getting more creative about finding ways to make this happen. -
Specials teachers also like to be included in these communities. It seems like we get placed in the position of working with students while other collaborate in our building. Not sure how to solve this scheduling issue. -
Allysen is right! key is time for teachers to work together and learn the technology available
-
-
Because of teachers' busy schedules, it is important for administrators to allot specific time for teachers to meet as groups. "It's absolutely immoral to tell teachers they need to collaborate and not give them the time to collaborate," says Mike Mattos, principal at Pioneer Middle School in Tustin, Calif. His school implemented the Late Start Wednesday program, in which students come to school late on Wednesdays (the other days are longer to make up classroom time), allowing teachers time for collaboration.
-
I think it's great that this article points out the importance to allot time for collaboration! We have implemented an early out once a month this year for basically this reason. We are using the time to work on AIW, Authentic Intellectual Work, with co-workers. This focuses on working together to improve tasks, student work and instruction. -
It is important to provide time to collaborate. In some schools the teachers only see each other at lunch, in the hallway, or at an already structured meeting. There should be an opportunity for teachers of all subjects to get together to talk about what they have been doing, what has worked, and what has not worked.
-
-
an easy-to-read article describing the professional learning community philosophy - ...6 more comments...
-
Here is a great article I found during a PLN class I am taking and it talks on how to use twitter. Our class on Personal Learning Networks fits right with PLC's. Our school in Grundy Center, Iowa just finished it's second year. Here is the sight for the twitter info. http://cooper-taylor.com/2008/08/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-education/ -
http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=2105 Here is an article to see if your school is doing a good job with PLC's. Our school thought it had a great first year and the second year we didn't. We followed the steps the second year and didn't personalize it as much and we regretted it later. While assessing PLC's don't ever forget to make it your own.
-
I am taking a class bout this concept of PLN's and we have been investigating multiple social media outlets in order to help contribute to the students' learning environment. Below is a link to the 2006 Time magazine "person of the Year" article. It's a good read and offers great perspective and it would be a great resource to explain to kids and other teachers (PD) as to what direction "learning" is heading and why is it important to continue to evolve our methods. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html -
-
The PLC team I was on this year really felt like we were successful at helping our first graders. We were able to focus on what we wanted to do to help our students and have the time to discuss if it was working. We were also able to have the time to discuss what we can all do to make things better. -
There is no question that a collaborative culture encourages improved student achievement. When we all work together, it's always better for the students and for us. -
I look forward to creating that collaborative culture in our district. I feel we have it, but turning the focus on to the student's actual learning will be very powerful and beneficial to all of our students. Providing the time for our teachers will be critical, and getting everyone to buy into the change in thinking. -
Perhaps because I am taking a class on and learning the power of PLNs, I am really impressed by the potential of this. And beneficial to teachers AND students.